IMPACT OF POST-COVID 19 ECONOMIC CRISES ON AFFORDABILITY OF RENTAL HOUSING IN RAJSHAHI: AN ANALYSIS BASED ON RESIDUAL INCOME

Housing has always been a consistent and globally recognized urban challenge that remains largely unresolved. Meanwhile, affordability lies at the heart of most housing issues. The post-COVID global economic uncertainty has further enhanced this problem, as the living costs continue to rise at an alarming rate. In countries like Bangladesh, the situation is even more complex due to its large population. As being the third-largest metropolitan city, Rajshahi faces severe challenges in addressing housing affordability. In most of the cases household incomes and living standards have remained constant, but rising inflation and other post-COVID economic pressures have increased the cost of living. This has a direct impact on the rental housing affordability in Rajshahi. After paying for the unavoidable non-housing costs, the remaining amount is insufficient for house rents or expenditures, leading to a significant housing cost burden for renters. This paper employs a residual income-based method to examine the effect of the economic crisis after COVID on rental affordability in Rajshahi, offering a comparative analysis of the pre-COVID situation. It is anticipated that this paper will broaden future research opportunities and contribute to the implementation of the required policies to address this issue.